My Coronavirus Diary Part 39

The World Health Organization warned that the worst with this virus is still to come. There are nearly 2.5 million cases of the cornonavirus worldwide and 170,000 people have died from it.While most Americans oppose the anti-quarantine protests that have been going on, a lot of the president's base have been out in numbers---not heeding social distancing advice that the president himself advocates--demanding their "freedom". (Or is that "free-dumb"?) One report said that some protesters still believe the virus is a hoax or hyped up by the media and democrats. Crazy!

A friend sent me this all-too-true meme yesterday. Unbelievable, but sadly it is real.

The governor of Georgia is planning on opening up his state on Friday. Georgia has 19,000 cases. Those numbers will not go down if he opens up.

Other friends have sent me the following memes.

When the virus comes around and kicks their areas in the butt, I hope they finally realize how ignorant they've been.

The Spanish Flu of 1918 killed 50 to 100 million people, depending on which source you read. One thing history does record is that many, many more people died in the second wave of the virus a than in the first months earlier. By loosening up things too soon, we may be making this first wave worse than we are already experiencing.

Antibody testing in Los Angeles shows that the infection rate there was 55 times larger than previously reported.

A New York hospital system is giving its employees a bonus for steering the course through this mess.

Amazon workers are planning a strike to demand better virus protection.

The other day, I received a newspaper in the mail. It was something called The Epoch Times. It was a free sample, trying to get my business. But the headline, HOW THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY ENDANGERED THE WORLD, struck me as odd...as if it was playing into the White House's attempts to re-focus blame for the horrible outbreak we've had in this country. Several of the articles felt like they had this slant; THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGINS OF THE CCP VIRUS and THE CCP ATTEMPTS TO SHIFT BLAME OF VIRUS TO US. Those sound right out of the Donald Trump playbook. What the heck?

I looked this publication up online. What I found was stranger than fiction. In addition to AllSides.com (a website that looks at media bias) rate The Epoch Times as being "Right" biased, I found a fascinating article about it (and the people behind it). The article is from 2019, but the video clip about halfway through gives a succinct history of the newspaper, the religious cult that runs it and the man behind the cult. Wow! Crazy. And dangerous.

Yesterday, I mentioned the controversy surrounding the organization (Samaritan's Purse) and the man behind it (Franklin Graham) and their questionable requirement for the staff at their makeshift coronavirus hospital in Central Park. Yesterday, my friend Scott Nicholson sent me a brief note about

"A note on Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse...," he said. "His original headquarters and hometown is here in Boone, NC. The organization brought our first known case of COVID here and probably most of the current nine cases. So much for God's will!"

If religious cult weren't bad enough, it seems that the mafia (Yes, like THE GODFATHER-type mafia) is poised to take advantage of the virus problem--and not only in Italy.

Locally, the Central Valley has shot up to 931 confirmed cases with 31 deaths.

In the age of quarantine, imagination and creativity are king to surviving. I have found several amazing and ingenious projects people have come up with during this time. And there seem to be no end to websites offering ideas on what to do with your time while sheltering in place.

The artist SHAG (He's a fave...so expect to see him show up as he releases more of these) posted a new fun coloring page--his 6th! (The previous 5 can be found HERE.)

Yesterday, in addition to my much-needed shower, I had to venture out into the virus-laden world. I had a doctor appointment. As I mentioned yesterday, I have some blood disorders and they require me to get blood drawn every few weeks. This would be my first time going since the virus mess started. It was a little unnerving.

My appointment was at CCARE, the California Cancer Associates for Research and Excellence. I don't have cancer, but my blood issues require a specialist and mine happens to work there.

Before the appointment, I was alerted to the fact that I would be required to wear a face mask while in the building. At the entrance, there was a pre-admission check point set up. Visitors are asked if they've been ill recently, know anyone who has had COVID 19, etc. There was also a large sign stating that this was not a COVID 19 testing center next to the station.

Once cleared through the checkpoint, someone else takes your temperature right inside of the door. Having passed that test, I then checked in at a small desk that hadn't been there before.

After waiting in the lobby a bit, I was called up to the front desk to go over insurance and co-pays. There were signs set up asking to not lean on the counter and to stay on the blue tape on the floor.

Back in the waiting room, I noted that everyone was wearing a mask. The office was surprisingly much more crowded than I thought it should be. The phlebotomist that took my labs echoed that thought, saying it had been quiet around the facility for weeks and suddenly they had a large patient load again.

After waiting in the second waiting area where an old man was coughing his head off (How was he allowed to be there?), I got in to see the doctor. Following that, I was sent upstairs to the third, smaller (and crowded) waiting room for my nurse to get me for the day's procedure.

I was taken into the treatment room. I was dreading it as the nurse who got me that day I had had before. He had been new that previous time and stuck me twice and never got my vein. This time I hoped he'd be a little more practiced and a lot more successful.

It took a bit of prodding and twisting about, but he got a vein on the first (very painful) poke. The guy is a healthcare professional and I'm sure he wasn't sick...but I was very conscious of how close he was to me and how often his hands were not gloved.

He needed to drain 500 milliliters from me. I have this done every two months. The blood cannot be reused by the blood bank or whatever and needs to be destroyed because of the anomalies in it.

I had texted the photos to my co-worker friend, Sandy, as she didn't quite understand what i was having done. She asked if they replenished my fluids afterwards and I sent her a picture of the tiny bottle of water they gave me to drank. Ha!

Afterwards, I went through a Starbucks drive thru (with my mask on). I hadn't had Starbucks in weeks and I wanted to use my free birthday coupon before it expired. Mmm...

Following my 2 1/2 hours at CCARE, I decided to try my luck at Costco. The store had removed the carts that are usually next to the entrance. You had to grab a cart from the parking lot then walk the length of the building side parking stalls, then circle around to get in line on the sidewalk and walk all of the way back to the entrance. Of course, by the time I hobbled up that far, the line had dissipated and people were cutting in line right near the doorway. Swell.

Everything seemed to be stocked. There was toilet paper and paper towels. I didn't notice (or look for) and sani-wipes. There was water but none of the big gallon jugs of water. They had eggs, but there were not many cases left and a sign said only one container of eggs was allowed per customer. The meat area was well stocked, except I did not see any hamburger. Bacon and luncheon meat seemed plentiful. I scored some salami for myself. The only thing I looked for but did not see was hand sanitizer. Hmm.

Most people were wearing masks. The only people I noticed without masks were some redneck macho guy types. When I got gas on the way out ($2.099 a gallon. Zowie!), these same guys were they types that drove big pickup trucks. Whatever. I wasn't impressed by their trucks or their maskless (reckless?) daring. 

When I got home, Shirley was waiting by the sliding door to go out. It was an overcast day and it had been raining while I was away. I had left her sleeping in her box. But she wanted out now. So, I opened the door. She took her sweet time deciding if the weather suited her or not before finally venturing out.

What did she do? Once again, like she had done the last time it rained, she went to a puddle and drank.

Speaking of drinking... Later in the evening, I was reviewing my phone. I had missed an alert from my security cameras. Someone had been at my front door and had left something. The fence neighbors? No, it didn't look like it had been them when I watched the video. I opened the door and looked out.

There was a box leaning against my door. Huh? I took it in and opened it. Oh my stars! There were two cocktail mixers inside.

The note enclosed said it was a belated birthday present from Robin and Skye in Oregon! WOW!!! What a surprise!

And what a super way to close out the evening. THANK YOU, Robin and Skye! It's cocktail time.

Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.


CHEERS!



Continue to the next part HERE.